This book proposes a thematic treatment of the subject. Following an historical survey of the achievements and scope of the explorers, the ensuing chapters deal with exploration under a series of different headings including imperialism, psychology, warfare, the impact on indigenous societies, slavery and diseases. The book encompasses the whole of African exploration from the charting of the Niger by Mungo Park in 1796, the achievements of Speke, Burton, Livingstone and Stanley, as well as other less well-known figures including French and German exploreres, up to Stanley's last great trek across Africa in 1897. Frank McLynn is the author of Charles Edward Stuart which was short-listed for the 1989 McVitie's Prize for Scottish Writer of the Year and The Jacobite Army in England which won the 1985 Cheltenham Prize for Literature.